A remarkable few days for St Andrews was topped off when it was unveiled as one of Britain’s 10 most popular retreats.
Last Friday the eyes of the world were trained on the ancient burgh as it played a significant part in royal wedding celebrations, and it now seems the “old grey toun” is putting traditionally more illustrious and far larger settlements such as Glasgow firmly in the shade.
A report by TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel site, ranks St Andrews as the ninth best destination in the UK well ahead of Manchester, Cardiff, Newcastle and Belfast.
The results of the survey, which are based on the experience of millions of travellers from around the world, received a warm welcome in Fife.
Patrick Laughlin, manager of the St Andrews Partnership, told The Courier, “The town is of course still on a high after the recent royal wedding events. However, what the announcement demonstrates is that week-in, week-out, St Andrews is rated very highly by its visitors.
“This accolade will mean a lot to the many businesses and organisations which work hard all year round to provide great services and amenities for their customers.”
St Andrews’ inclusion in the top 10 sees it rubbing shoulders with some of the globe’s best known sites and Mr Laughlin insists the accolade is well merited.
“TripAdvisor is recognised nowadays as a genuine barometer of visitor opinion, so it means a lot to us to be ranked with the heavy hitters of UK tourism like Edinburgh, Oxford and York,” he said. “The findings back up our own 2010 survey results which revealed that 96% of our visitors were likely to make a return trip to St Andrews.”
According to the travel website, Scotland is home to six of the UK’s top 25 destinations. Edinburgh, Inverness and St Andrews took second, eighth and ninth places respectively, while Glasgow trailed in 11th, followed by Aberdeen and Oban in 20th and 25th places.
Emma O’Boyle of TripAdvisor said, “These awards honour the world’s best destinations as decided by those judges that really matter travellers themselves. They are testament to Scotland’s impressive beauty and welcoming culture, which have clearly impressed a great deal of visitors.”
London came first in the study. Europe’s top destination was named as Paris, while Cape Town was the world’s top place for a trip.